The_Info_Web/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/The Church of New Revelation.md

aliases	tags	category	summary	location	start	relations	created	updated
Church of the New Revelation	Organization ReligiousFront NewJersey 1970s ChildPornography NorthFoxIsland	Private Organization	Tax-exempt church incorporated in Delaware in 1974 with a Kearny, New Jersey, address, under whose auspices Brother Paul's Children's Mission operated; a Tennessee investigator called it a 'referral agency which distributes pornography.'	Kearny, New Jersey	1974	type with reverse role start fn head_of Adam Starchild true president 1974 1 type with reverse role start fn employed_by Dyer Grossman true youth director 1974 1	2026-04-28	2026-10-09

The Church of the New Revelation was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, listing its principal place of business in New Jersey; its articles of incorporation stated that it was formed to train and indoctrinate ministers, brothers and sisters in its teachings and ordain them to carry out its work. Adam Starchild, listed in the Kearny telephone book, was its president and Dyer Grossman its youth director. The Internal Revenue Service declared it exempt from taxes without challenging or investigating its claim to be a charitable organization. Brother Paul's Children's Mission, the camp on North Fox Island organized by Gerald Richards, was created and operated under its auspices; Richards named the church, the Ocean Living Institute and the Educational Foundation for Youth as fronts for the production of child pornography. A letter from Grossman found on Richards recommended setting up "child care" sites under the church or the foundation because of their tax exemptions.¹

"There is no church," said Pete Bouldin of the Tennessee district attorney general's office. "It's just a referral agency which distributes pornography around the country."²

Father Bud's Boys Farm

The writer S. Dovey wrote that the church was incorporated in New Jersey and that Father Bud's Boys Farm in Tennessee was incorporated under it and that Grossman created the church on paper; Francis Shelden and Starchild were connected to it through the incorporation of the North Fox Island mission.³

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, reviewing Vermilye's conviction, found that the farm "was not church-sponsored or related."⁴ The Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House record, listed "Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, Tenn." among three "charitable" organizations that police had pinpointed as "fronts," alongside Boy Scout Troop 137 and Brother Paul's Children's Mission. According to Richards, it reported, the church, the Ocean Living Institute and the Educational Foundation for Youth were three other corporations set up as "tax dodges."¹

Footnotes

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1. Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." Traverse City Record-Eagle, 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. Sexual Exploitation of Children, hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 82-83. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041 ↩︎

2. Chicago Tribune, May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation, hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit ↩︎

3. Dovey, S. Eye of the Chickenhawk. Thehotstar, 2023. ↩︎

4. Vermilye v. State, 584 S.W.2d 226 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 26, 1979), cert. denied, July 2, 1979. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/584/226/ ↩︎